Feminist Fire!: Radical Black Women in the 20th Century

3 units

Black women have been at the forefront of the Black radical tradition since its inception. Often marginalized in both the scholarship and the popular memory, there exists a long unbroken chain of women who have organized around the principles of anti-sexism, anti-racism, and anti-capitalism. Frequently critical of heterosexist projects as well, these women have been the primary force driving the segment of the Black radical tradition that is commonly referred to as Black Feminism. Remaining cognizant of the fact that Black Feminist thought has also flourished as an academic enterprise -- complete with its own theoretical interventions (e.g., standpoint theory, intersectionality, dissemblance) and competing scholarly agendas -- this course will think through the project of Black Feminism as a social movement driven by activism and vigorous political action for social change. Focusing on grassroots efforts at organizing, movement building, consciousness raising, policy reform, and political mobilization, this course will center Black Feminists who explicitly embraced a critical posture toward capitalism as an untenable social order. We will prioritize the lives and thoughts of 20th-century women like Claudia Jones, Queen Mother Audley Moore, Frances Beal, Barbara Smith, Audre Lorde, and Angela Davis as wellas organizations like the Combahee River Collective, the Chicago's Black Women's Committee, and the Third World Women's Alliance. At its core, this course aims to bring the social movement history back into the discourse surrounding Black Feminism.